Getting So Close

Well, OTS begins in a little less than two weeks and while I'm not actually going, my life will be very different during it. Nick leaves for Alabama a week from Sunday and I think that I haven't really come to grips with that fact yet. I have noticed myself doing random little things like playing games on my cell phone and I think that is my brains way of coping with the idea of being alone for so long. I know that I will get used to it and that everything will be alright but it is a struggle right now to think about what is to come.

I know that I have been distracted during the holidays by the thoughts of what happens January 11th because facebook had to remind me that my third anniversary is on Wednesday! Talk about a crazy week headed my way! First, we will drive home from League City to Plainview on Sunday, then I go back to work on Tuesday, go to class and celebrate my anniversary (preferably in some low calorie fashion) on Wednesday, go to a going away party for Nick on Thursday, spend Friday and Saturday with Nick and then watch him drive away on Sunday. I don't know if I will have time to breathe, let alone think about it!

I am bittersweetly excited about all of the changes that will happen after OTS. Moving to Florida will be a wonderful adventure but it will also be far away from my family and friends which will be a totally new experience to me. I think that this will be a wonderful life and that I will get used to being a military spouse but it is a little bit nervewracking when I really stop and think about it.

Anyway, I know it has been a while since I wrote, the crazyness of the holidays caught up to me! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families and friends and that you have a happy New Year! Thanks for reading!

Holidays!

For Thanksgiving this year Nick and I went with my mom and dad to Pagosa Springs, Colorado to spend the weekend. It was a lovely trip! We stayed in a beautiful little house right outside of the city and really enjoyed the gorgeous view! This shot was actually taken on the road up through Wolf Creek Pass. We went shopping for one of the days and then my dad, Nick and I went skiing on Saturday. It really was a great trip, mom cooked a ton of food and we got to enjoy each other's company while we played games, worked on a puzzle, and did things around town.

I was thinking today about decorating for Christmas, Nick and I were going to as soon as we got home from the trip but we haven't taken the time yet. Considering it's December already we should probably get a move on! I love Christmas decorations with the evergreens, twinkling lights, and beautiful colors. I am excited for this next week to be over because then I will only have one class to worry about and Christmas break to look forward to. Of course when the 11th of December comes around then I will only have one month left with Nick before OTS but I am doing my best not to brood about that and just enjoy the excitement of the times to come after that.

I guess that's about all for now, I'm sure I will write again soon though! Thanks for reading!

Bein' Thrifty

So, I had a super fun experience today and I thought I would share it with all of you. I went to see the newest installment in the Harry Potter series last night and afterwards I was talking about it with my husband and a friend that went with us. My friend, Victoria, has read all of the books and was telling me how (obviously) the books are way better than the movies. I am always a strong believer in reading books and I know that movies rarely live up to the expectations of a book lover. Anyway, this made me think that I really would like to read the books because I have enjoyed the movies and I know the books will be even better. As I thought about this I looked the books up online to see what their hardback price is because I own the second one in hardback (very random, I know). I saw that even used the books were going to be pretty expensive so I thought that I would just check my local library to see if they had it. Of course both of the libraries I checked had the first book checked out because of the new movie, apparently more than one person shared in my desire to read the series. So, dissapointed in the fact that I would simply have to wait, I went to sleep. This morning when I woke up I determined that I would probably go by the library anyway just to check and see if it was mismarked online and they really did have it. While I was deciding this, I pondered where else I could possibly find a copy and it occured to me that people may give something like that to a thrift store and since we have a few in Plainview I figured I would take a little bit of time and go check them. I got to the first one, the Salvation Army here in town and was really excited to see a small room completely packed with books! If you know me, you probably know that books are one of my favorite things and getting to dig my way through a room full of them is exciting to me. :) As I glanced across the shelves in this little room I found Inkspell which is the second book in a series that I have been wanting to read for a long time. A few minutes later on another shelf, I found Inkheart which is the first book in the series! At this point, I was super excited and just looked up and down every shelf to find more treasures like these. Right before I had to leave for work, on the last shelf I checked, I found not only the first Harry Potter but also the third! They are both a little beat up and worn but as long as they have every page, I'm happy! Needless to say, I left that store $2.44 poorer and a whole lot happier! I now have the first three Harry Potter books so I can get started on the series. I love finding little treasures and books are some of the best. I hope you all had something great happen to you today, I sure did! :)

 

(Maybe I should add thrift stores to my "I'm thankful for" list!)

What I'm Thankful For

As I was listening to our pastor talk about the first Thanksgiving and being thankful I sat and made a list of a few of the things I'm thankful for this year and I wanted to share it with you.

• Nick - my sweet husband means the world to me and I am so grateful for the life I have with him. He is so supportive of me and encourages me to do what I want no matter what. I am so blessed to have such a sweet man to spend my days with and I am so proud of him!
• My loving family - whether it's my parents, my brothers, my sisters (and sisters in law) or my in-laws, I am blessed with an amazing family. I have always been grateful for my immediate family, my wonderful parents, protectively loving big brothers, and sweet sister. They have been a strong foundation for me and always built up my confidence with loving words and encouragement. I am also very grateful to have married into a family of loving, sweet people who love me almost as much as they love their son (maybe just as much) :)
• Good friends - near or far, I have been very blessed to have gained the good friends that I have.
• Inlow and my childhood - growing up in the beautiful Monzano mountains of New Mexico is something that I will never forget. I had a whole forest as my backyard and I absolutely loved my life there. There is still and always will be a special place in my heart for the mountains because of my wonderful childhood at Inlow.
• America and the Air Force - needless to say, I am very blessed to live in the country I live in. I love America, even with all of her faults, and I thank God that I live in a country that allows me the freedom to worship Him freely. I'm also very thankful for the Air Force and I am very excited for the military spouse life ahead of me.
• Esther and Chloe - I know, I know, only a animal lover would actually list their pets in a list like this but I am very grateful for those two little cats. They bring that little bit of joy to my day whenever I need it, of course they also bring some big annoyance at times but they still mean a lot to me.
• Alwins School of the Dance - as I was pondering my "I'm thankful for" list, Alwins came to my mind. Dance was a very big part of my younger life and I spent a lot of time with the teachers at Alwins. I will never forget the lessons, dance and even life lessons, that they taught me over the years and I am so very grateful that my parents took the time and money for me to have that wonderful education!

As I draw this list to a close I realize that there are a lot of things that aren't on my list that probably should be but if I wrote a truly exhaustive list I would be here all night! I am grateful to the Lord God that he has given me everything on my list and blessed me beyond measure for things that I don't even know about yet. I don't think that there really is a way for me to truly show my gratitude but I will work at it everyday and never forget that even when things are tough, there is always something to be grateful for.

Blogging...

So for those of you who do read my posts, I know I am not consistent at all! My brother recently started a blog and he is super consistent about posting stuff. I suppose that I go through chunks of time when I want to write and chunks of time when I don't. All of that to say, I'm going to try and post more consistently, just in case you want to read!

I was reading about blogging and how the word "blog" came from "web log" and then was shortened to simply, "blog". I know mine is not much of a log, I occasionally think about something that I want to write about and I write it, but I want to actually do a little more "logging" in my "web log" so that I myself can look back and remember things.

As I mentioned in my last entry, OTS is coming up quickly and I am doing my best to prepare for the three months that I will be seemingly without a husband. I am looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. I think that it will be a good time of classes, friends, and family but I truly love my husband and I miss him when he isn't around. I think that this can be my way of letting you into my head just a little bit and let you know what being an Air Force Spouse is like. Hopefully I won't bore you with details or random fits of emotion but just let you know about the exciting and trying times that will come. Like I said, I am really excited for this new adventure and, if you want to come, I'm inviting you along for part of it. Of course those entries won't really start until OTS comes but I figured I would give you a heads up that I may actually blog on a regular basis sometime soon!

If you are interested, I have a countdown clock on my blog that is set for the first day of OTS so that you can coutdown with me! Thanks for taking the time to read my very random posts. :)

Thoughts

OTS is currently 56 days and 18 hours away. Isn't it amazing how time flies? I remember talking with Nick about how it was only 6 months away and now it is less than two months away. As the time draws nearer I am both excited and nervous for the time of separation. I am excited because it will be a light semester of classes and I will have a lot of time for family and friends. I am nervous because Nick won't be here for the comfort in stressful times or to prod me to call family and friends to do something! :) I know that God will be with me through this journey and I am excited to see what He has in store for my semester.

On a totally different note, I purchased this pattern on eBay today and I am super excited to play with it and make something with it!! I have found that I am a really big fan of 1970's vintage clothing and 1970's style clothing so this pattern really caught my eye when I was shopping this morning. It also made me think about the I Dream of Jeannie costume that I want to make because the vest style is perfect for that costume! I am hoping that I will have a little extra time during the spring semester to sew a few things and I think this dress and vest will be one of the first!

This weekend I was able to spend some time with friends on two separate occasions and I loved both times immensely! I went to a friend's house for a girl's night on Friday and we ate tasty food, talked, and watch the Prince of Persia. It was really fun to have some time to get to know those girls better and visit about girly stuff. Then Nick and I went to our lifegroup tonight and we ate some delicious brisket and talked for a couple of hours. I really enjoyed getting to visit with such sweet women and get to know them better. (The boys all stayed in the kitchen and talked mostly about guns, video games, and other 'boy' stuff) I feel truly blessed to have people around me who look forward to keeping me company while Nick is gone to his training. It is very encouraging to know that when I am feeling down I have family and many friends that I can call to perk me up so that I can the encouragement that Nick needs while he is there. Thank you for taking the time to share in my random thoughts!

November Already!

I know it has been over a month since I last wrote but it has been a crazy month! On October 10th I got online to check my virtual classes and realized that I had 10 days to write 27 one page essays and several pages of questions and answers for one of my classes. Needless to say, I freaked out! I worked myself really hard and even got a partial extention on time from my professor but it has been a very crazy month. I took my online final and turned in all of my virtual homework on Friday so I am done with my online classes! I am finally getting to a point where I can relax a little bit and do something just for the fun of it.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to make myself a ragdoll costume for Halloween but because of all of the homework stress I wasn't able to do any of it. I still have some of the pieces cut out waiting to be sewn, I just haven't had the time. Nick and I went out of town for the Halloween weekend to see some really good friends and I didn't need a costume for the things we did so I guess it will just have to wait until next year!

As the date for OTS draws closer my feelings of excitement are outweighing my feelings of dread and discomfort. I think that I am getting more comfortable with the fact that Nick will be leaving for a while and I have had so many people offer to keep me company that I am feeling very loved! I am looking towards the spring with excitement, anticipation, and just a little bit of fear. It is going to be one of the easiest and the most difficult semesters of my collegiate career. I am finishing up all of my classes which is a nice small load and Nick isn't going to be here so it is bittersweet.

I am really hoping to get to blog about some fun crafting projects sometime soon, if I can find some time! I hope that you all had a fun Halloween and enjoy planning ahead for the holidays!
Thanks for reading!